


Inked

by CynicalBonehead



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Drabble, Found Family, Jack's first tattoo, Punk Jack, Slice of Life, Tattoos, bad at tags, just a touch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29524494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynicalBonehead/pseuds/CynicalBonehead
Summary: Jack had already gotten a piercing so why not eventually get his first tattoo? He decides he needs a support bastard to help ease his first time jitters.A quick drabble to satisfy the hunger of a human au.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Inked

An aesthetically pleasing waiting room was a sure way to quell Jack's nerves and steal his attention span. The pool table especially. He had little idea how to play, he was just shooting balls into pockets while waiting for North to call him back. They had arrived 10 minutes early just so Jack could settle the hell down. Pitch found it amusing however, that out of anyone in his friend group, that Jack picked him to come along. Sure Aster has tattoos but he'd probably tease Jack a little too much. Katherine and Tooth had little experience with tattoos but he did recall seeing Tooth have a few henna tattoos once or twice. This was a different ballgame though. Jack already had a piercing done in his ear a month ago to test the waters of body mods and did surprisingly well.

So here he was. Shooting pool balls right before diving ass first into the inking world. Pitch didn't need to be a mind reader to know that Jack was nervous and excited at the same time. He could tell just by how he was bouncing.  
Jack every now and then would exhale loudly with a little "Hoo" sound. It was hilarious to Pitch to say the least and Jack knew it.

"Where did you want it?" Pitch asked looking up from his phone.

Jack tapped the pool cue on the table, "I dunno. Maybe my neck?"

Pitch raised a brow and lowered his phone to his lap, "I'm trying not to judge-"

"-You are. Your face is giving it away."

Pitch rolled his eyes, "You sure you want it on your neck Jack? That's an..interesting first choice."

Jack scrunched his face up in thought, "It was my neck or my shoulder honestly. " He shot a pool ball into a pocket and looked back at Pitch, "You still getting one or is it just me?"

"I want a small one." Pitch stretched his shoulders, "Perhaps a small ghost on my inner wrist. I don't feel like getting anything big today.. Did you want me to go first by the way?"

Jack shook his head no, "Nah. I think I want to get mine done first. Get it over with y'know?"

Pitch snickered, "Don't act like you're getting a shot. It's a tattoo."

"North has lectured me enough on how the needles are two totally different things." Jack huffed at Pitch restraining a laugh, "Listen how was I supposed to know syringes and inking needles are different?"

"Tis a right of passage." Pitch snorted.

Jack scrunched his face up and pointed the pool cue at Pitch, I will shove this up your ass so help me."

Pitch raised his brows, "Ok Vlad The Impaler, I'll squat so you can actually reach it, or do I need to get you a stool?"

"No impaling in the lobby Jack." North laughed as he stepped out from the back, "You just can't help but tease him can you?"

Pitch shrugged with a smug smirk on his face, "It's a talent."

Jack rolled his eyes and set the pool stick down with the others, "So..Everything's ready?" he asked.

"Yes! You can come back to section over here. Pitch I'm assuming you'll be joining him?"

Pitch shrugged, "If he wants me to."

"Yeah if its cool." Jack replied as he walked back with North.

The shops walls were decorated with interesting posters and wall decor. Some were pictures of previous clients with big, detailed tattoos. North looked like he was comically posing with the clients in a few of the pictures. Jack did a double take a mounted deer skull that was hanging in front of the bathroom door, it was certainly not something he was expecting. Pitch pulled out a stool and sat nearby the chair that Jack was going to be seated at. He had his phone on standby just in case when he felt like he needed to occupy himself. He knew Jack wouldn't be tense during the whole process so he had to have some form of entertainment.

"Okie dokie!" North sat down in his chair and Jack followed into the bigger chair, "Do you know what you're getting today Jack?"

Jack nodded, "A hurricane symbol. Y'know like on the weather maps."

He pulled out his phone and showed the reference to North. North studied it for a moment and nodded.  
"Give me a moment.." He started sketching out the symbol then glanced at Jack again, "Do you know where you want it?"

"Yeah my neck shoulder area." He started to take off his hoodie and revealed he wore a tank top in preparation.

North scooted himself over and studied the area for a moment or two. Then pulled up the sketch of the symbol and showed it to Jack.  
"About this size yes? If you want it bigger just say so."

Jack smiled and shook his head no, "Looks good. Hopefully getting a smallish tat as a first one isn't lame or anything."

North just laughed, "No of course not! Small tats are good for first times. Give you sense of what the process is like and less overwhelming." He already started to sanitize Jack's shoulder and neck. The cold liquid didn't even phase Jack, all his friends knew he had a weirdly strong affinity for the cold.

The prep work didn't take too long for North finish. If it did, Jack probably would've backed out from anxiety overload. He had to admit, it was rather neat watching North sanitize his utensils and apply the necessary things to Jack's shoulder.  
"I gotta admit, seeing you looking like you know what you're doing is helping."

North raised a brow, "Of course I know what I'm doing. I gave myself many tattoos!" he laughed and slid some gloves on, "Oh what color did you want it? I've got a few to choose from."

"Black. It doesn't have to be colorful." Jack shrugged. 

Jack felt his nerves come back soon as it looked like North was about to start. Pitch had a little grin on his face and it looked like he snuck a few pictures while Jack was distracted. 

"It's nothing to worry about Jack. It is like a fork poking you over and over in the skin." He smiled.

Jack relaxed a little, "Okay. R-Ready when you are."

North got himself into position and started on Jack's shoulder.  
"If you need to take a break just let me know. Please try not to move." 

He gripped onto the chair's arms at first upon the first few touches on his shoulder. It 'hurt' but didn't HURT. All Jack could do was keep himself still and move his eyes around to keep himself occupied. He glanced over and saw Pitch holding his phone up, oh good lord he looked like he was doing more than just taking pictures. Pitch had messaged the group chat as soon as North started his work on Jack. 

"Ah shoot, hold on that isn't the right camera.." Pitch tapped his phone multiple times until his phone's camera switched to the outer one, "There we go. Can you see?"

"HAHA NO WAY!! FROST IS REALLY DOING IT?!" Jack recognized that voice anywhere, he flipped the bird in Pitch's direction.

"Oh how generous to the one who was your support bastard." Pitch scoffed. 

"It's not towards you Pitch. He knows who he is." Jack rolled his eyes but kept his head perfectly still.

Aster laughed, "Aye keep yourself still. Unless you want a laser to remove North's mistakes."

"I won't need a laser Aster. My work is immaculate, always." North huffed, he didn't talk much when he was working so multitasking like that was slightly annoying.

"What are you getting Jack? Is it big?" Tooth chimed in. 

"Nah. It's small aaaaand I feel like leaving it as a surprise." Jack winced a few times.

The line art phase didn't bug Jack that much but once North had to fill it in? It felt like he was getting jabbed in the shoulder over and over til it hurt. He started to make occasional grunts when it got to be too much but it only made Pitch chuckle. Sandy couldn't make it to the call Pitch had set up but sent some words of encouragement and congrats to Jack. 

"I'm surprised you didn't need to be hand held." Pitch chimed in.

"Can't hear anyone's bullshit over the lovely hum of this machine." That was enough to get North to snort a little, Jack smiled victoriously then grit his teeth for another round of inking.  
"Is it normal for it to be bleeding..?" Jack glanced at North.

North nodded, "It will more after we wrap it up. Not that big of deal. Do you want a sheet to tell you how to take care of it afterwords?"

"That would help since he WILL forget." Pitch said flipping through his phone. 

Jack squinted at him but it was pretty comical looking given the angle he was sat in. He had little idea of how long it took but if he had to guess he'd say an hour. Maybe close to two. If he could nap as easy as other people, he probably would have fallen asleep after a while. He felt rather silly for being so jittery beforehand. It gave him a new perspective though and he was nearly thrilled at the idea of getting a new tattoo in the future. Right as he started to get some ideas, North looked like he was finishing up and wrapping Jack's shoulder in plastic after cleaning it. 

"You did great Jack! A for effort. I think it came out rather nicely." He guided Jack over to a mirror to see. 

Jack's eyes lit up seeing the hurricane symbol on his shoulder. If tattoo fever was a sickness he had just gotten infected.  
"It's perfect!! Ah-Shit." Jack impulsively raised his arm a little too high and the raw shoulder skin pinched itself.

Pitch resisted the urge to pat Jack on the shoulder but did not hesitate to laugh at his impulsive move. Jack was busy snapping pictures of himself and his new tattoo, he even posed with North in a few. Pitch just made faces in the background whenever he was caught like Sasquatch. North handed Jack a little care info sheet and a small bottle of aftercare lotion for his tattoo. 

"Okay so. Wash it off first when I get home THEN apply the lotion?"

"Yes Jack." 

"Sorry I'm just vibrating. I can't believe this is real." Jack's grin was going from ear to ear, "Uhhh where do I pay?" 

"At the front desk. Don't forget its nice to tip your friends." North winked. 

Jack chuckled and looked at Pitch, "I'll be right back. Try not to have a panic attack without me."

Pitch rolled his eyes, "Yes because I'm so nervous for my 12th tattoo."

He glanced at his phone and smiled at all the notifications on his newest post. Jack excitedly read the comments when his payment was being processed at the desk.

"Aster: Oh how fitting for a chaotic bastard like yourself. If this years hurricane isn't named Jack I'll riot." 

"Tooth: ROCK IT LIKE A HURRICANE!!! YEAAH!!!! It looks so good Jack!"

"Sandy: You actually did it you madman!! We should celebrate this weekend :)" 

"Katherine: I anticipate many more after this. One simply just doesn't get one tattoo. Well if that someone is like you anyway."

He practically snorted at Sandy's response to Aster. It was just a picture of a hurricane with the caption 'I'm gonna kick your shins Aster'. God he loved his group so much.


End file.
